DisneyRunning.Com

2002 Walt Disney World Marathon Report: Anonymous

Long version: Thanks to all of the Disney-Deads for your advice for the last year and several months. I've politely lurked and enjoyed reading, so I guess it's only fair to share my experiences in the race. What a wonderful event from start to finish. Both runners and supporters-- you can't find a better crowd of people in which to be immersed. The marathon distance is not for everyone, but it can be a life-affirming, or at least a life-enjoying experience. Overall, the Disney course and scenery are nonpareil, though my race was much like many other races I've run, except for the last 3 miles which was unlike anything I've experienced.

I knew what to expect for the race course and organization having run the half last year, but I was anticipating for months running past the halfway point and joining the legions of marathoners on the second half of the course. Disney does a phenomenal job with course support and organization-- from the expo and starting corrals, to traffic control and water stops. Of course the race is not for everyone, but it sure is for a lot of people seeing how it fills up so long before the race. Some people complain that running on the roadways in between the parks is boring and the "secret" they don't tell you. But considering the distance between the parks, without a magic carpet you're obviously going to have to run a long way between them. And considering how high one's adrenaline peaks during the time within the theme parks, the downtime on the quiet and scenic roadways was critical for me to maintain a relaxed race. With the company of so many other runners, waterstops every mile beyond half-way, and lots of families & charity team spectators as well as Disney cast members, crowd support was never a problem.

I woke at 5:00am and got to the starting line at 5:30am. Camaraderie in the starting corral for 30 minutes was more than enough to make up for missing out on the "fun" at 4:00am in the EPCOT parking lot. I started slowly with the first 3 miles at 9:00, 8:45, and 8:30. That was a little slower than planned but at least I felt good as I fell into an 8:00-even pace and passed a lot of people for the next 17 miles. EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom were not as overwhelming as last year, but exciting nonetheless. There's nothing quite like running up Main Street past hundreds of screaming people and then around and through Cinderella's Castle.

Throughout the race I drank Powerade and water at almost every water stop and took a 10-second walk at every other stop to be sure to drink a lot. The walking breaks were great to help flush out lactic acid; have to look into that more. However, by mile 16 I felt bloated from fluid. I never had to use the restroom throughout, but my stomach was cramped. At mile 17 we hit the Animal Kingdom which was all new to me. Why does it have a Dumbo ride similar to the Magic Kingdom or was that a hallucination? Then came the long stretch to the Wide World of Sports. Luckily the weather was still cool and overcast, though I was starting to play mind games fearing the impending thunderstorms that were part of a system moving near the area that I'd watched the whole previous day and that morning on the Weather Channel. A friend running with me was a great help keeping me focused from 18 to 21. Beyond that was longer than my longest training run. I felt fine, and knew that if I got to 23 I would at least be familiar with the rest of the course which was the reverse of the Disney 10K course I ran in October (which is a great race with just 1500 people, though the weather in October was ridiculously humid and warm). MGM was a blur and by the time I hit the Boardwalk I was looking for Spaceship Earth. A couple painful 9-minute miles for 24 and 25 and then I was heading around the World Showcase. I was on pace for 3:35 even if I just jogged it from there.

Then suddenly a brief but violent and cold rain shower with high winds hit. I was in front of Norway at 25.5 at that moment and was overcome with chills and felt like blacking out. So I stopped, so close to the finish, under cover from the rain and recovered for a few minutes. Feeling faint, I must have been hypoglycemic at that point which is something I've never experienced, though I had been downing Powerade to the point of nausea early on. (Maybe PowerGel really is the trick.) Maybe it was hypothermia. Or both. Then to make matters worse, all my major leg muscles became severely cramped from standing there. I was miserable and frustrated, but at least my falling apart was done spectacularly. I started walking and my friend ran to find some sugar. He returned with a glass of Coke from the Mexican pavillion food stand (thank goodness a cast member was there and gave it to him), and though I haven't drunk soda for years, that tasted delicious. It was amazing how I was craving food at that point. My sugar problems vanquished, I now hobbled toward the finish, finally forcing myself to run the last two-tenths. Final time was 3:50. I had said at mile 23 that time didn't matter, so I was happy just to get the Mickey medal and be done with it. It's frustrating but important to realize that you train for months and then get one shot on race day and have to deal with whatever conditions present themselves. At least the bar is not too high for me now to PR in my next one, assuming there is another one... maybe Chicago or Disney next year... Now that I've "completed" a marathon once, I can focus on spring races with renewed vigor. But I can also quietly look forward to actually "conquering" the marathon sometime in the future.